


The boyfriend

by Tyellas



Series: Lab T-4 [13]
Category: The Shape of Water (2017)
Genre: Drabble, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Mid-Movie Spoilers, Zelda wants the dish
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-29
Updated: 2017-12-29
Packaged: 2019-02-22 12:04:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13166553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tyellas/pseuds/Tyellas
Summary: Zelda has some saucy questions for Elisa, and friendship is getting to finish your jokes...however you tell them.





	The boyfriend

**Author's Note:**

> This is short for AO3 – I’m posting it here because it’s easier to warn for spoilers. Fluffy fluff, keeping it light for the holidays! The series will backtrack to some darker places next week.

Zelda shook her head. She'd thought work would change after Elisa broke the amphibian man out. But she and Elisa still cleaned Lab T-4 twice a day, just like the roster said. Since the night ‘the Asset’ had vanished, it was empty, undisturbed. Its greenish tanks were still. There was shouting and clanging from angry men, but it was at a comfortable distance. Without scientists and agents messing it up all the time, the work was easy. Zelda thought she could get used to this.

It was the second day in a row that Elisa had such a glow on she was outright pretty. Maybe there’d been something to breaking that thing out, after all. The way other women complained about finding a man, and the way Brewster had turned out, Elisa might as well grab one from a top-secret government experiment.

Zelda had to ask. “So, how’s the…you know? The new boyfriend? I mean, what’s he like?”

Elisa beamed and danced her broom a few steps. _He knows more signs every day._

“Signing, that’s good. Does he help around the house?”

Elisa shook her head, blithely.

“Mmmm-hmmmm. What’s he do all the time you’re here?”

Elisa tucked her broom in her elbow to sign at length. _Watches TV with Giles. Sleeps. He sleeps often. They hurt him a lot here._

Zelda edged away from a lab table that still had manacles and a rusty collar strewn on it. “Then you go home and feed him?”

_He’s so good. He waits until I’m there to eat. Mostly._

“So you can put it on the plate, after you bought it, I bet. And after that, he wants to…you know?”

Elisa blushed and nodded.

Zelda had to ask. “How’s that go? Is he one and done? Or are you getting yours?”

Elisa worked her way through a very interesting series of signs.

Zelda hummed appreciatively and summed it up. “That’s the thing about men who aren’t so good lookin’, they try harder. They appreciate. You know?”

Elisa’s face fell. _He’s beautiful._

“Lord, that’s how me and Brewster got started. I let him know he was handsome and there my troubles began. Got to say, Elisa, yours doesn’t sound like a boyfriend after all. Sleeping all day, in front of the teevee, letting you feed him. Mmmm, no, not a boyfriend.” Zelda chuckled richly.

Elisa’s eyes flashed. _He is NOT an animal!_

“Did I say that? Now, did I? If you’d let me finish, I’d say…” Zelda paused. “Sounds like a _husband_ to me!”

Elisa’s face changed as fast as a shuffled pack of cards. Shock, delight, brow crumpling and smoothing, hands up, ready with a smile and the comeback. She began to sign: _If he is then --_

The next part took a moment. It was a word they hadn't used much. Elisa was spelling it all out. Zelda waited until she'd signed the last letter before responding.

Zelda inhaled. She was going to need it. “There you go again, Elisa! I am too old to be a bridesmaid. Much too old.” She pointed her own broom at Elisa. “Matron of honor, maybe. Means you have to buy me a hat as well as a dress!”

Elisa’s mirth didn’t make a sound. That was fine. Zelda laughed, and the empty lab’s echo made it enough for the both of them.


End file.
